Folding high chair

ABSTRACT

A folding high chair in which the front and rear legs are swingably interconnected to each other and to a tray support. The seat is swingably connected to the front legs on a fixed axis and to the rear legs on a sliding axis, and the back rest is swingably connected to said seat and tray support. The front and rear legs are releasably locked in an extended diverging position with the seat and back rest generally normal to each other by a locking assembly carried from the seat.

United States Patent 1 Lay et a1.

['11] 3,715,142 51 Feb. 6,1973

[54] FOLDING HIGH CHAIR [75] lnventors: Ralph B. Lay; Ogden R. Olsen,both of Columbus, 1nd.

[731 Assignee: Hamilton Cosco, Inc., Columbus,

lnd.

221 Filed: June 10,1971

211 App1.No.: 151,644

[52] US. Cl ..297/39, 297/26 [51] Int. Cl ..A47c 4/18 [58] Field ofSearch ..297/39, 27, 28, 46, 35, 40, 297/24, 26, 57, 50, 53, 56, 437,429;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,789,623 4/1957 Lisi..297/39 3,113,802 12/1963 Goldsholl ..297/35 606,845 7/1898 Simmons..108/120 3,147,036 9/1964 McRae ..297/35 X 3,058,773 10/1962 Panicci..297/35 3,220,764 11/1965 Duer ..297/56 2,806,512 9/1957 Whalen..297/437 X 2,672,387 3/1954 Barricks ..108/133 3,542,419 1 1/1970Spinola ..297/429 Primary Examiner-Francis K. Zugel Attorney-Trask,Jenkins & Hanley 57 ABSTRACT A folding high chair in which the front andrear 1egs are swingably interconnected to each other and to a traysupport. The seat is' swingably connected to the front legs on a fixedaxis and to the rear legs on a sliding axis, and the back rest isswingably connected to said seat and tray support. The front and rearlegs are releasably locked in an extended diverging position with theseat and back rest generally normal to each other by a locking assemblycarried from the seat.

5 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB 6 I975 SHEET 10F 5 INVENTORSRALPH B. LAY OGDEN R. OLSEN ATTORNEYS Fig.1

PATENTEDFEB 6 I975 3.715.142

SHEET 2 [IF 5 INVENTORS RALPH B. LAY OGDEN R. OLSEN ATTO R N EYS.PATENTEDFEB 6 ms SHEET 30F 5 F 4 INVENTORS 1g. RALPH B. LAY

OGDEN R. OLSEN KMJV M7 /ZA ATTORNEYS PATENTEDFEB 61973 3.715.142

Fig.8

INVENTORS 9 RALPH B. LAY

OGDEN R. OLSEN BY FOLDING men CHAIR SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Inaccordance with one form of the invention, there is provided pairs offront and rear legs swingably connected at their upper ends to bracketsmounted on a generally U-shaped tray support. A seat is swingablyinterconnected adjacent its forward end to the front legs on a fixedaxis. A guide is mounted on said seat and receives a slide on the rearlegs for swingably interconnecting said seat and rear legs on a slidableaxis. A back rest projects above the seat at the rear thereof and isswingably interconnected to said seat and to the tray support.

Thus, the chair is movable between a folded collapsed position in whichsaid front and rear legs, tray support, seatand back rest are ingenerally parallel planes and an extended operative position in whichsaid front and rear legs are in a diverging relationship with said traysupport and seat supported in generally parallel horizontal planes andthe back rest generally normal to said seat. In order to releasably locksaid chair in its extended operative position, a lock is mounted on saidguide for engagement with said slide.

Conveniently, a foot rest is mounted on said front legs below theirinterconnection to the seat, and said tray support is provided withhangers for mounting a tray thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

1, but showing said chair with the tray removed and folded into itscollapsed position;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the chair shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation of the chair shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line6-6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 7--7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a vertical section taken on the line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a vertical section taken on the line 99 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 10 10 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line l111 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view of the tray showingthe locking mechanism thereon; and

FIG. 13 is a vertical section taken on the line 13-l3 of FIG. 12.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment ofthe invention illustrated in the drawings, the chair is provided with apair of front legs l5 and 16 interconnected adjacent their lower ends bya transverse brace 17 and a pair of rear legs 19 and 20 interconnectedadjacent their lower ends by a transverse brace 21. The upper ends ofsaid front and rear legs are swingably interconnected, as by brackets22, to a generally U-shaped tray support formed by a pair of rearwardlyextending arms 26 interconnected at the rear of the chair by atransverse bight 28.

The brackets 22 are identical in construction. As shown in FIGS. 1 and5, each comprises a pair of side walls 29 and 30 interconnected at theirforward ends by a front wall 32. A flange 33 projects inwardly from theupper end of the wall 29 adjacent the rear of the bracket, and in a likemanner, a flange 34 projects inwardly from the upper end of the wall 30adjacent the front of the bracket. As shown in FIG. 5, the flanges 33and 34 underly the adjacent tray support arm 26 and are fixedlyconnected thereto by rivets 35. The upper ends of the legs 15 and 16 arereceived between the bracket side walls 29 and 30 and are swingablyconnected thereto by pivot pins 37. In a like manner, the upper ends ofthe rear legs 19 and 20 are received between the bracket side walls 29and 30 and are swingably connected thereto by pivot pins 39 disposedabove and to the rear of the pins 37 A seat 40 is supported on the frontand rear legs below the plane of the tray support 25. The seat isswingably interconnected adjacent its front edge to the front legs 15and 16 by'a transversely extending bar 42 fixedly connected to thebottom of said seat by screws 44. A pair of ears45 extend downwardlyfrom the ends of the bar 42 in abutting engagement with the inner facesof the front legs 15 and 16. Said ears are swingably connected to saidlegs by pivot pins 46. Thus, the seat 40 is swingable with respect tothe front legs about the axis of the pins 46.

The seat40 is swingably interconnected to the rear legs 19 and 20 on alongitudinally slidable axis. To this end, and as best shown in FIGS.6-8, a U-shaped slide 48 is mounted on the rear legs. As shown, saidslide comprises atransverse bight 50 engagable with the bottom of theseat and interconnecting a pair of arms 52 fixedly mounted on the legs19 and 20 and projecting forwardly therefrom. The bight 50 is slidablyand rotatably carried in a guide 54 mounted on the bottom of the seat40. Said guide comprises a yoke having a bottom runner 56 connected toupwardly extending end walls 57 and 58. The upper end of the wall 58 hasa rearwardly projecting tongue 60 abutting the bottom face of the seat40 and connected thereto by a screw 61. The upper end of the wall 57 hasa forwardly pro.- jecting tongue 62 abutting the bottom of the seat 40and received in a channel-shaped offset 63 formed in the bar 42. Thus,the slide bight 50 is slidably carried between the guide runner 56 andthe bottom of seat 40 with its longitudinal sliding movements beinglimited by the front and rear guide walls 57 and 58.

When the chair is in its fully extended position, the slide bight 50 isdisposed in abutting engagement with the guide end wall 58. In order toreleasably lock the slide in such position for releasably locking thechair in its extended position, a lock 65 is mounted on the guide 54. Asshown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the lock 65 comprises a lower portion 66projecting downwardly along the sides of the guide 54 and integral witha rearwardly angled upper portion 68 disposed above the runner 56. Thelock portions 66 and 68 are formed from a pair of side walls 70 and 71interconnected at the bottom of the lower portion 66 by an end wall 73and bottom wall 74. The lock is swingably mounted on the guide by apivot pin 76 mounted in the side walls 70 and 71 and journaled inupwardly and downwardly deformed offsets 77 and 78 formed in the guiderunner 56. As shown in H6. 8, the side wall 70 at the upper end of thelock portion 68 is rounded, as at 80, and is adapted to bear against theslide bight for retaining said bight in a locked position against theguide end wall 58. The lock is biased into its locked position by aU-shaped spring 82 projecting through a pair of openings 67 in therunner 56 and wrapped around the pivot pin 76. One end of said springbears against the edge of the openings 67 and the opposite end of saidspring bears against the lock bottom wall 74 thereby urging the lock toswing in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 8. Desirably, in orderto limit the swinging movement of the lock under the influence of thespring 82, a finger 84 projects inwardly from the side wall forengagement with the bottom face of the guide runner 56.

A back rest is interconnected to the seat 40 at the rear thereof. Tothis end, a support plate 92 is connected to the seat at each sidethereof. Each of said plates comprises a bottom wall 93 connected to thebottom of the seat by screws 95 and an upwardly projecting side wall 96.A pair of mounting plates 96 are connected to the sides of the back rest90. Each of the plates 96 comprises a back wall 98 connected to the rearface of the back rest by screws 99 and a side wall 100 swingablyconnected to the adjacent support plate side wall 96 by a pivot pin 102.The back rest 90 projects upwardly through the plane of the tray support25,

and pivot pins 104 swingably interconnect the support arm 26 to theplate side wall 100 for thus swingably interconnecting said tray supportand back rest. As shown, the back rest is connected to the tray supportwith its rear face disposed in a forwardly spaced relation to the traysupport bight 28.

A foot rest 106 is mounted on the front legs 15 and 16 below the planeof the seat 40. Conveniently, said foot rest is formed as a sheet-metalstamping and comprises an upper tread face 108 having a dependingperipheral skirt 109 which terminates at its lower end in a downwardlydirected lip 110. The foot rest is supported on the front legs by ahanger having a transverse stretch 111 interconnecting a pair of lateralstretches 112 projecting rearwardly of the foot rest through notchesformed in the skirt 109 and lip at the rear corners of the foot rest.The rear ends of the stretches 112 are continuous with a pair ofvertical stretches 114 having their upper ends offset, as at 115. Asshown in H6. 11, the offsets 115 are received in openings 117 in thefront legs 15 and 16 and are disposed within said legs in alignmenttherewith while the stretches 114 are disposed in abutting engagementwith the front faces of said legs. The foot rest is also supported on abrace having a transverse stretch 118 fixedly connected to the hangerstretch 111. A pair of side stretches 120 angle I downwardly andrearwardly from the stretch 118 and at their rear ends are continuouswith out-turned fingers 121 spring-biased by the inherent resiliency ofthe hanger into openings 122 formed in the side faces of the legs 15 and16, said fingers being disposed in a plane transverse to the axes ofsaid legs. Conveniently, a series of the openings 117 and 122 are formedin the legs 15 and 16 for mounting the foot rest on said legs in thedesired position of vertical adjustment.

Any type of tray 125 can be mounted on the tray sup port 25. Forexample, a tray having a locking mechanism like that shown in US. Pat.No. 3,330,597 may be employed. As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, mounted onthe underside of the tray adjacent each side thereof is a bracketcomprising a web 126 provided with upstanding flanges 128 connected tothe tray. The bracket web 126 is curved, as at 130, to abut the upperouter quadrant of the adjacent tray support arm 26 for slidablysupporting the tray on the support 25. A latch 132 is swingablyconnected to the lower face of the bracket web 126 by a verticallyextending pivot pin 133. The latch has tongues 135 and 136 at its frontand rear ends. The tongue 135 is swingably supported in a channel 138projecting downwardly from the front end of the bracket, and the tongue136 is slidably supported in a hook 140 formed at the rear of thebracket. The tongues 135 and 136 are interconnected by a web 142 curvedto define a wing 144 which abuts the lower outer quadrant of theadjacent support arm 26 when the latch is in its locked position. A slot146 is formed in the inner edge of the wing 144 for selective receptionaround the vertically extending arms 147 of a U-shaped hanger 148mounted on the bottom of the support arm 26 for locking the tray in thedesired fore and aft position of adjustment on the support 25.

In order to releasably retain the slot 146 in locking engagement aroundone of the hanger arms 147, the bracket web 126 has a pair of laterallyspaced, downwardly projecting ears 149. A headed pin 150 extends throughalig'ned openings in said ears and in a pair of ears 151 projectingdownwardly from the latch. The pin 150 supports a coil spring 152 actingbetween the outermost ear 149 and the innermost ear 151 for opposingoutward swinging movement of the latch. Desirably, one of the ears 151projects below the outermost ear 149 to provide a finger grip forswinging the latch outwardly to release its slot 146 from the hanger arm147 to permit the tray to be adjustably moved along or removed from thesupport 25.

With the support bight 28 being spaced rearwardly of the back rest 90,said bight can serve as a towel holder. In addition, the bight 28 canserve as a storage support for the tray 125. With the tray removed fromthe tray support 25, one of the latches 132 can be opened to permit itswing 144 and the curved portion 130 on its associated bracket web to bereceived around the bight 28. When the latch is released, the tension ofits spring 152 will cause its wing 144 and the web portion 130 tobindingly engage the bight 28 and thereby support the tray in adownwardly hanging position from said support.

Desirably, a crotch strap 155 extends between the seat 40 and tray 125when the latter is mounted on the support 25. As shown, the lower end ofsaid strap has a loop 157 received around the bar 42, and the upper endof said strap has a hook 158 mounted thereon adapted to be received inan eyelet 160 on the bottom of the tray. A seat belt 162 is alsoconnected to the back rest 90 by the screws 99.

In order to move the chair from its extended operative position shown inFIG. 1 to its folded collapsed position shown in FIG. 2, the tray 125 isremoved. The lock 65 is swung in a counter-clockwise direction as viewedin FIG. 8, as by pulling its lower portion 66 forwardly, to swing theupper portion 68 of said lock below the plane of the slide bight 50 andthereby permit said bight to slide forwardly in the guide 54. With theseat thus unlocked, the rear legs 19 and 20 can be swung forwardly tocause the seat 40 to swing downwardly about the axes of the pins 46 andthe slide bight 50. As the seat swings downwardly, the back rest 90 alsowill swing downwardly about the axes of the pins 102 and 104 and thetray support 25 will swing about the axes of the pins 37 and 39. Thus,with the chair in its fully collapsed position, the frontand rear legs,seat, back rest and tray support will all be disposed in adjacentgenerally parallel planes.

Should it be desirable to have the chair assume an even more compactthickness, the foot rest 106 can be removed. This can be easilyaccomplished by springing the brace stretches 120 inwardly to disengagethe fingers 121 from their leg openings 122. This then permits thehanger offset ends 115 to be removed from the leg openings 117 fordisconnecting the foot rest from the front legs.

In order to move the chair into its extended position shown in FIG. 1,it is merely necessary to pull upwardly and rearwardly on the supportbight 28 whereupon the rear legs 19 and 20 will swing rearwardly and thetray support 25, seat 40, and back rest 90 will swing upwardly intotheir extended positions shown in FIG. 1. During such movements, theslide bight 50 will slide rearwardly in the guide 54. As the bight 50moves rearwardly in the guide it cams the rearwardly angled upper lockportion 68 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in HO. 8 againstthe action of the spring 82 to clear the lock 65. After the bight hascleared the lock, said lock will return to its locking position underthe action of spring 82 to releasably retain the bight 50 against theguide end wall 58 and thereby releasably lock the chair in its extendedposition.

We claim:

1. A folding high chair, comprising a pair of front legs, a pair of rearlegs, a tray support, means swingably interconnecting said front andrear legs to each other and to said tray support, a seat swingablyinterconnected to said front legs, a guide on said seat, a

generally U-shaped slide on said rear legs, said slide having a pair ofarms connected to said rear legs and a transverse bight swingably andlongitudinally slidably carried in said guide against the bottom of saidseat, a lock swingably mounted on said guide for releasably retainingsaid slide in a fixed position in said guide, said lock having a firstportion projecting into said guide and a second portion projecting belowsaid guide, and biasing means urging said first portion into a lockedposition to releasably retain said bight against one end of said guide,said second portion being manually manipulatable for swinging said firstportion into an unlocked position whereby said bight is free to movealong said guide, a back rest swingably interconnected to said seat andtray support, and a tray removably mountable on said tray support. 7

2. A folding high chair as set forth in claim 2 with the addition that afinger prog'iects outwardly from said lock for engagement with sat guideto limit movement of said first portion of the lock toward its lockedposition.

3. A folding high chair as set forth in claim 2 in which said firstportion releasably retains said bight in locked position against therear of said guide and the bottom of said seat, and said first portionis angled rearwardly in said guide.

4. A folding high chair, comprising a pair of front legs, a pair of rearlegs, a tray support, means swingably interconnecting seat front andrear legs to each other and to said tray support, a seat, a transversebar fixedly connected to said seat with its ends swingably connected tosaid front legs for swingably interconnecting said seat and front legs,a guide comprising a yoke having a longitudinally extending runnerdisposed in spaced relation to said seat, said yoke having its forwardend retained between said bar and seat and its opposite end fixedlyconnected to said seat, a back rest swingably connected to said traysupport and said seat, a generally U-shaped bight on said rear legsswingably and longitudinally slidably carried in said guide against thebottom of said seat, a lock mounted on said runner for releasablyretaining said slide against the rear portion of said yoke, and a trayremovably mountable on said tray support.

5. A folding high chair as set forth in claim 2 with the addition that afoot rest is mounted on said front legs, said foot rest comprises atread face, a generally U- shaped hanger carried under said tread faceand having its ends received in a first set of openings in said frontlegs, and a brace connected to said hanger and angled rearwardly anddownwardly therefrom with its ends biased into a second set of openingsin said front legs, said first set of openings being in alignment withthe ends of said hanger and said second set of openings are in a planetransverse to the axes of said legs.

1. A folding high chair, comprising a pair of front legs, a pair of rearlegs, a tray support, means swingably interconnecting said front andrear legs to each other and to said tray support, a seat swingablyinterconnected to said front legs, a guide on said seat, a generallyU-shaped slide on said rear legs, said slide having a pair of armsconnected to said rear legs and a transverse bight swingably andlongitudinally slidably carried in said guide against the bottom of saidseat, a lock swingably mounted on said guide for releasably retainingsaid slide in a fixed position in said guide, said lock having a firstportion projecting into said guide and a second portion projecting belowsaid guide, and biasing means urging said first portion into a lockedposition to releasably retain said bight against one end of said guide,said second portion being manually manipulatable for swinging said firstportion into an unlocked position whereby said bight is free to movealong said guide, a back rest swingably interconnected to said seat andtray support, and a tray removably mountable on said tray support.
 1. Afolding high chair, comprising a pair of front legs, a pair of rearlegs, a tray support, means swingably interconnecting said front andrear legs to each other and to said tray support, a seat swingablyinterconnected to said front legs, a guide on said seat, a generallyU-shaped slide on said rear legs, said slide having a pair of armsconnected to said rear legs and a transverse bight swingably andlongitudinally slidably carried in said guide against the bottom of saidseat, a lock swingably mounted on said guide for releasably retainingsaid slide in a fixed position in said guide, said lock having a firstportion projecting into said guide and a second portion projecting belowsaid guide, and biasing means urging said first portion into a lockedposition to releasably retain said bight against one end of said guide,said second portion being manually manipulatable for swinging said firstportion into an unlocked position whereby said bight is free to movealong said guide, a back rest swingably interconnected to said seat andtray support, and a tray removably mountable on said tray support.
 2. Afolding high chair as set forth in claim 2 with the addition that afinger projects outwardly from said lock for engagement with said guideto limit movement of said first portion of the lock toward its lockedposition.
 3. A folding high chair as set forth in claim 2 in which saidfirst portion releasably retains said bight in locked position againstthe rear of said guide and the bottom of said seat, and said firstportion is angled rearwardly in said guide.
 4. A folding high chair,comprising a pair of front legs, a pair of rear legs, a tray support,means swingably interconnecting seat front and rear legs to each otherand to said tray support, a seat, a transverse bar fixedly connected tosaid seat with its ends swingably connected to said front legs forswingably interconnecting said seat and front legs, a guide comprising ayoke having a longitudinally extending runner disposed in spacedrelation to said seat, said yoke having its forward end retained betweensaid bar and seat and its opposite end fixedly connected to said seat, aback rest swingably connected to said tray support and said seat, agenerally U-shaped bight on said rear legs swingably and longitudinallyslidably carried in said guide against the bottom of said seat, a lockmounted on said runner for releasably retaining said slide against therear portion of said yoke, and a tray removably mountable on said traysupport.